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HMS Ambrose (1903)

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History
United Kingdom
NameSS Ambrose
Owner Booth Steamship Co
BuilderSir Raylton Dixon & Co, Middlesbrough
Yard number496
Launched31 March 1903
Maiden voyage20 September 1903
Fate
United Kingdom
NameHMS Ambrose
Acquired
  • 10 December 1914
  • Bought 20 October 1915
Commissioned10 December 1914
RenamedHMS Cochrane, 1 June 1938
ReclassifiedAs submarine depot ship, 1917
Fatescrapped 1946
General characteristics
Typearmed merchant cruiser
Tonnageabout 4,000 GRT
Displacement6,600 tons
Length387 ft 9 in (118.2 m)
Beam47 ft 6 in (14.5 m)
Draught20 ft 9 in (6.3 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Armament8 × 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns
General characteristics
TypeSubmarine depot ship
Speed14.5 knots (26.9 km/h)
Complement238
Armament2 × 1 - QF 12-pounder anti-aircraft guns

HMS Ambrose was a cargo and passenger liner bought by the Admiralty from the Booth Steamship Company early in World War I and converted into an armed merchant cruiser. Later in the war she was converted into a submarine depot ship and spent most of the 1920s supporting submarines in the Far East. Upon her return home in 1928, Ambrose was placed in the Reserve Fleet. She was later modified to support destroyers and did so throughout World War II before she was sold for scrap in 1946.

Description

Ambrose was 387 feet 5 inches (118.1 m) long overall, had a beam of 47 feet 6 inches (14.5 m), and a draught of 20 feet 9 inches (6.32 m).[1] She was rated at approximately 4,000 GRT.[2] The ship had one propeller shaft powered by a vertical triple-expansion steam engine rated at 6,350 indicated horsepower (4,740 kW) that used steam generated by an unknown number of coal-fired cylindrical boilers.[1] In passenger service, she had a crew of about 102 officers and crewmen. SS Ambrose could carry 149 passengers in first class and 330 in steerage as originally built.[2]

As an armed merchant cruiser, Ambrose's armament consisted of eight 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns and she displaced 6,600 tons.[3] After her conversion to a submarine depot ship, Ambrose is noted as having a maximum speed of 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h), an armament of two quick-firing 12-pounder anti-aircraft guns, and had a crew of 238 officers and enlisted men.[1] Much of her passenger accommodations would have been modified to serve the crews of her submarines as part of her conversion.[4]

Construction and career

Ambrose was built by the Sir Raylton Dixon and Company shipyard, as yard number 496, in Middlesbrough for the Booth Steamship Company. The ship was launched on 31 March 1903 and began her maiden voyage, from Liverpool to Manaus, Brazil, on 20 September. She apparently ran aground on 3 October 1906 and was repaired by Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn. The repairs also included an increase in her passenger capacity through an enlarged poop deck and lasted until 30 March 1907.[2]

The ship was requisitioned and commissioned as HMS Ambrose on 10 December 1914 for service as an armed merchant cruiser.[3] She was purchased on 20 October 1915[3] and converted into a submarine depot ship in 1917.[4] Ambrose was stationed at Berehaven, Ireland in January 1918 and transferred to Falmouth, Cornwall in November. In 1919, the ship was based in Devonport until September when she departed for the Far East to support the 4th Submarine Flotilla through 1928. She sailed from Hong Kong on 28 March of that year and was paid off into the Maintenance Reserve on 4 December at Rosyth.[4]

The sources are unclear when she was converted to support destroyers;[4] she was renamed HMS Cochrane on 1 June 1938.[3] Cochrane served as a depot ship during World War II and was paid off on 1 March 1946.[4] The ship was sold for scrap in August and arrived at the breaker's yard at Inverkeithing on 13 November 1946.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Lenton, p. 586
  2. ^ a b c O'Neill
  3. ^ a b c d e Colledge & Wardlow, p. 12
  4. ^ a b c d e Joyce, p. 18

References

  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • Joyce, A.H. (Winter 1987). "Ambrose's Unique Conversion". Warships Supplement. 91. Kendal: World Ship Society: 18. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • Lenton, H. T. (1998). British & Empire Warships of the Second World War. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-048-7.
  • O'Neil, Jim (1995). "The Lost Voyage of the SS "Ambrose"". Ceejay Publishing. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
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